City College of Technology

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Drawing

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First drawing with color

As a freshman here at New York City College of Technology (City Tech) I was given many options on what careers to follow. Choosing a career wasn’t as simple as I thought it would be. As I got older I realized there were so many things to take into consideration when choosing a career, for example how many years I will be in school for, what will I be required to do? Or if I will be capable of handling the amount of work this field asks for.  I’ve been reflecting deeply into this thought and came to a conclusion that Fashion Marketing is the best career path for me because this career has to do with one of my passions, Fashion. Another reason would be the income. I will be making enough money to live comfortably on my own. Lastly I have also noticed I reside in Brooklyn, which is close to Manhattan, this also means I am close to a large selection of clothing stores and businesses. This will give me a greater advantage of obtaining a job in this field. In this essay I will be including some background information about fashion marketing, followed by the three reasons on why I chose fashion marketing as a career, and also how City Tech will prepare me for this career.

The paragraph I will be writing has to do with my major Fashion Marketing and some background information about it. The New York City College of Technology course catalog 2014-2015, gave me a lot of useful information on what this major consists of. I was able to see the credits, including the name of each class I will be taking. “Through the core curriculum the student gains insight into many subjects that help to explain sociological and psychological factors which influence fashion interest and demand in today’s global market.”(City Tech, 126)  This first sentence in the catalog is what marketing is about, finding factors that influence or interest today’s society. Since fashion and marketing are constantly changing there is always something new to discover or learn within society and what is more interesting is that you get to apply these findings to marketing. Ever wonder how clothing stores stay in business? Fashion marketing plays a big role in clothing industries; they are in charge of finding the latest trends and customer behaviors to keep their business updated.

Ever since I was little drawing would always keep my mind entertained, taking me into an alternate world full of clothes, fashion, and models. There wasn’t anything more I loved doing than attempting to draw these models wearing unique clothing. People always say “Do what you love” and this exactly why I chose this career. My marketing class for this semester has taught me various things going deeply into what marketing is really about. “Understanding how trends behave and reflect cultural shifts will help identify the signs and signals for areas of influence on the horizon” (Jacobs, 4), this line on the Identifying Geographic Drivers for Discovery article, caught my attention because it talks about fashion expanding and in order to succeed you will need to understand society, their behaviors, trends, and much more.  To understand and obtain more knowledge of the fashion industry and their influences you will need to learn the foundations of marketing fashion. I really enjoy these classes and wish to continue learning more about marketing.

Another major reason for continuing in this career is because of the annual salary. What I will be receiving is enough for me to be able to live on my own comfortably, which is something I look forward to.  According an article by Chron about Fashion marketing, “In the northeast region, they earned between $55,000 and $74,000 per year, with lows in Pennsylvania and highs in New York” (Suttle, 1). Considering the fact that I live in New York where they pay is higher, this benefits me in many ways. I won’t have to travel far to find this job, and I will also be close to my family members. There are many other things I want to accomplish, like being independent and having my own fashion blog. With this pay I will be able to go shop for clothes more often and maybe get ideas will doing so.

Manhattan is known as the city that never sleeps because of the bright lights and the various amount of stores available. You can find almost any clothing store there, even discover new ones. The amount of stores made me realize that there will also be positions open for fashion marketing jobs. “Now, international brands in need of recognition are flocking to locations in the heart of the prime area, Madison Avenue between 60th and 64th Streets” (Edelson, 1) While reading an article this line made think on how many people dream to open a store in Manhattan, it is one of the busiest places in New York and of course the amount of stores that already exist. As for me, my dream is to work for one of these brand clothing stores. Considering the fact that live in Brooklyn and Manhattan is only thirty minutes away from where I live works out great. I will be living somewhere affordable and work in the city.

City Tech has done a great job with organization. They offer services like faculty counseling to guide students in their career choice, tutoring, programs, and an online catalog, making it easier for students to find what classes they need to take and a detailed summary about this major. All these methods help students see what classes are required in their major. These classes are specifically made to teach students and prepare them in their career choice. I had a chance to interview my professor for my Principles of selling class, about the importance of a degree and he told me this, “Without a degree you won’t be able to set foot through the door, every job now requires some type of degree. This is a completive market.”  With City Tech’s programs they are giving students a greater change at success by preparing them for their future job career, and also assisting students with any question they might have.

Although there are many things to consider while choosing a career, I think the most important thing to do is look for something that interests you or something close to your hobbies. For instance, I love to draw but at the same time I love to discover new things. While searching through the different branches and industries in fashion, I came across Fashion Marketing. Something I never heard about before but from this brief summary I wanted to know more. This career included both of my interests, drawing, and discovering. I deeply encourage everyone to search deeply and think of all the benefits when choosing a career; this is something that will impact your future in greatly. Also anyone that is seeking a career in Fashion Marketing I strongly advise them to do a research like this, which can always come in handy. Overall I am having great time learning about marketing, my professor is great and I can’t wait till next semester to start learning about fashion. Like Stait says in his article “Future success depends a great deal on its ability to forecast and deal with the increasing speed of fashion change” (N.H, 1), future success will come with hard and dedication. This career can be challenging but with City Tech’s preparation many things can be accomplished.

Works cited

Edelson, Sharon. “Northern Expansion along Madison Avenue”. Women’s Wear Daily. 206. 110. (2013): 1-3. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18. Nov. 2014

Jacobs, Valerie. “Identifying Geographic Drivers for Discover”. Global Cosmetic Industry. 180. 10 (2014): 1-37. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20. Nov. 2014

Lopez, Katherine “Drawing” Flickr. 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 6 Dec. 2014

Lopez, Katherine “ First drawing with color” Flickr. 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 6 Dec. 2014

Lopez, Katherine. “New York City College of Technology” Flickr. 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 6 Dec.2014

New York City College of Technology. (City Tech). Course Catalog 2013-2014.2014. PDF. 2 Nov. 2014

Stait, N.H “Long Range Planning in a Fast Changing Fashion Market”. Long Range Planning. 3. 2. :55-60. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6. Dec. 2014

Selvadurai, Anthony. Personal interview. 8 Dec. 2014

Suttle, Rick. “How Much Does the Fashion Marketing Career Pay?” Work. (2013): 1. Academic Search Complete.  Web. 06 Dec. 2014.

Introduction

This project hasn’t been just any essay but instead it has given me a chance to reflect better on my thoughts and think deeper than just going along with my days blindly. From writing down a day of thoughts, to taking pictures, and finally to writing an essay about each and its meaning, has helped me better understand where I stand as of now.

Thinking in writing

6:45 am: I am really tired; I wish I could sleep earlier.

7:30 am: Oh I need to leave the house now before I’m late and write this down.

8:30 am: I should study for a few, but for some reason I seem to not care.

9:40 am: Wow that test was confusing, I should make some time to study next time

10:30 am: Finally time to go home, I like long train rides I get to think.

11:00 am: I really dislike school but I know without it my future wouldn’t look so good.

11:30 am: I should try sleeping so I’m not tired for my next class.

12:00 pm: Can’t sleep I’ll just go out and eat with my sister.

12:30pm: It’s crazy how my sister and I are so close yet we think so differently

1:00pm: Next semester I need to make sure my schedule is good so I can have time for a job.

1:30pm: Happy I ate well so I should be good for class now.

2:00pm: Just thinking about class makes me lazy to go but…. I have to.

2:30pm: I like writing down notes.

3:30pm: Yes! Class ended a bit earlier today.

4:00pm: Almost home

5:00pm: Time to nap

7:53pm: Just have to type this up and I could go back to sleep if I can.

Thinking in visual

School books

Exercise

My sister

Thinking rhetorically and reflectively

A lot of people aren’t aware of their thoughts and how they either shape you or influence your future. Up until I actually wrote my thoughts down on a piece of paper I was able to read it over and reflect deeply into what were the causes for these thoughts. Does some of my thinking contribute to my future success? or are they just random irrelevant thoughts that should be pushed aside for things that matter and need to be focused on. After these observations I was able to link my past experiences along with recent conflicts, then to the corrections I’ve made and finally to my way of thinking now. Although my thoughts seem to be all over the place I know that each one of them has a purpose in making my life including myself better. Overall I argue that my current thinking is focused on the things that will enable my future success.

A sad memory I think will always be engraved into my mind is my childhood days when I just started school. I remember these days perfectly well because they often replay in mind especially at this time since I just started my first year of college. When I was younger I didn’t have my parents to share all these activities I did in school like my classmates did, so I always thought “What’s the whole point of trying”, with this thought in my head I hardly cared about school and was quickly discouraged. I got accustomed to people constantly reminding to do my work; even then I saw that putting a little bit of effort was good enough to go to the next grade and didn’t bother to try harder. As the years went on school wasn’t as simple anymore but on the bright side I was reunited with my mother. She has helped me a lot in making sure I improve in school. Although I have made it far, I often think back and just feel like giving up because all this college work isn’t something I am used to doing. As I walked to class I remembered of my first college test, after remembering that I thought to myself “I should study for a few, but for some reason I seem to not care” (Lopez, par.3) I still have this sense of carelessness in the back of my head so I usually think to myself “I really dislike school but I know without it my future wouldn’t look so good”(Lopez, par.6) I think a lot about the future as well so I can focus on the things that will be important later on and should be worth putting my time into. I wouldn’t want to disappoint my mother who cares so much and has bought me all these supplies to see me succeed in school (Lopez, “School”). School is stressful but I always remind myself that it will be worth it in the end. I am also content that I have been putting a great amount of my time and thinking into different ways I can accomplish my goals of obtaining a degree.

To start off I been thinking a lot on practicing to overcome my shyness. I look up to my older sister (Lopez, “My Sister”) who is much more talkative and knows exactly what to say when it comes to having a conversation. She’s had every job she applied for and I believe it is because she’s outgoing. We went out to eat on a Thursday morning and as she was talking I started to think “It’s crazy how my sister and I are so close yet we think so differently” (Lopez, par.9), why was this? After taking the time to think I figured it was the different ways we were raised and how the people we were surrounded by influenced our personalities. She grew up with my aunt who is cheerful, talkative and outgoing meanwhile I grew up with my grandparents who focused on hard work and only did what was important. Not having anyone to talk to especially not my parents has made it difficult for me throughout the years to express myself and feel comfortable around new groups of people but this is something I have to change. School will require a lot of presentations, meeting people and even working with them and it is why I have been thinking on ways to improve my way of presenting myself, being more confident, less shy, and improve my speech. One method I’ve tried was going out more and trying to meet new people, ask questions and be friendly. I’ve also met up with a couple of my old friends and caught up on a couple of things that’s going on with our lives. They were willing to share their personal experiences which made it easier to talk to them and made me realize that talking to new people isn’t so bad, you can even relate to them in many ways or share the same experiences. This is something I have been working on really hard on because I know it will benefit me both as a student in city tech and in the future especially with the business career I am going for.

After reading the book by John Medina Brain Rules I learned the importance of getting a good night rest, along with exercising. Almost every morning I wake up with this thought “I am really tired I wish I could sleep earlier” (Lopez, par.1). Therefore I’ve been putting an effort in trying to sleep early so I could be more attentive in class, understand more and perhaps remember better. Exercising is as important as getting a good night sleep but I do not play any sports or do any type of activities. I figured that by not exercise I wasn’t doing any good to my health but I never really had anything or anyone stress the importance of it until reading this book. Finding out exercise both benefits your physical and mental health I decided to try a sport, soccer.  From all the games or tournaments I have been too I noticed this sport requires a lot of running and really good ball control, so I thought soccer would be perfect. Well another reason would be that everyone in my family including my friends play this sport so I could have more than one person to practice with. On a Friday morning I decided to stop lying around and asked my friend if he can teach me more about this sport. Arriving to the park I took a good look around at a beautiful sight and thought about the things I have been missing out on. As I was waiting for my friend to prepare himself I remembered to take a quick picture (Lopez, “Exercise”). If I continue exercising it will not only help me at the moment but will also help me in the future physically and mentally.

These past weeks my thoughts have been mostly focused on school and on ways to improve my academic skills. Your thoughts are very powerful especially at this time of your life were you will be choosing a career or if you even decide to continue with school. Given the chance to reflect on my thoughts and write about them I can see clearly on what I am doing in life. I do not wish to change these thoughts but instead find even more ways to develop better habits, enhance my writing, and be more productive.

 Works Cited

 Lkatherine11[Katherine Lopez].”Re: Project 1: Thinking in Writing.”Openlab.ENg1101 D346 English Composition 1, FA 2014, 2 Oct.2014.Web.14 Oct.2014.

Lopez, Katherine. “Exercise” Flickr. 3 Oct. 2014.Web.14 Oct.2014.

Lopez, Katherine. “My Sister” Flickr. 15 Oct. 2014.Web.15 Oct.2014.

Lopez, Katherine. “School, Books, Stress” Flickr. 4 Oct. 2014.Web.14 Oct.2014.

Medina, John. Brain Rules: 12 rules for surviving and thriving at work home school. Seattle: Pear Press, 2008.Print.